Hey there Readers! Welcome to the 4 th edition of Greg’s Garage. This
week it is an all-NBA garage.
The NBA and their network TV partners can’t be thrilled about
LeBron being out of the playoffs after round 1 not to mention not
having the large TV markets represented by the Celtics, Lakers
and Knicks.
Of the 8 franchises remaining in the playoffs, only 2 of them
(Bucks and 76ers) have ever won an NBA title with the last one
coming in 1983. That was the great Philly team with Dr. J, Moses
Malone, Maurice Cheeks and Andrew Toney.
Injuries continue to raise their ugly head in the playoffs with the
latest being James Harden’s hamstring injury in Game 1 of the
Nets series vs. Milwaukee. Hamstring injuries can take a long time
to heal, so it remains to be seen how many games Harden will
miss. I don’t think the Nets can win the NBA title without him.
Continuing with the injury theme, Joel Embiid and his injured knee
looked surprisingly good in Game 1 (39 points), even though the
76ers lost to Atlanta. Time will tell if his knee can continue to hold
up. Chris Paul’s right shoulder continues to be a concern for the
Suns while Denver continues to move forward without starters
Jamal Murray and Will Burton, both of whom are done for the
season.
This year’s playoffs will shine the spotlight on 3 burgeoning stars –
The Hawks’ Trae Young, the Suns’ Devin Booker and the Jazz’s
Donovan Mitchell. One or more could he household names at
playoffs end.
I’m sure there was more than 1 disappointing player in the 1 st
round of the playoffs, but the one that stood out to me the most
was the Mavericks’ Kristaps Porzingis. After averaging 20.1 points
and 8.9 rebounds per game in the regular season, he averaged
only 13.1 and 5.4 in round 1 vs. the Clippers. Dallas was desperate
for someone to step up to help young superstar Luka Doncic and
Porzingis’ performance left much to be desired, as he was invisible
at times. I guess $31.6 million a year doesn’t get you what it used
to.
Did anyone else have an issue with LeBron leaving the bench and
going to the locker room with 5 minutes left in the Lakers’ game 5
loss to Phoenix?
It seems like every team that lost in the 1 st round of the playoffs
has stated their desire to restructure their roster so they can
make a run at the title next year. That’s a natural reaction, but it
makes me wonder where all the players riding white horses are
going to come from. Doncic needs a #2 guy in Dallas as does
Damian Lillard in Portland. The Lakers want to add talent around
LeBron and Anthony Davis as do the Heat around Jimmy Butler
and Bam Adebayo. And the Celtics wish to add more talent
around their 2 young stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The
draft isn’t going to help these teams, so teams will need to get
creative as there is only so many star players to go around. The
offseason is where General Managers earn their money!
And lastly, in the non-NBA world, how many of you paid $50 to
watch the Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul boxing exhibition
farce? Mayweather supposedly made between $50-$100 million.
Not bad work if you can get it.
